Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy my brother, —

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and from Timothy, also a follower of the Lord.

2 Unto the holy and faithful brethren in Christ that are, in Colosse, favour unto you, and peace, from our God and Father.

To Christ’s people at Colossae – the followers who are faithful to him: May God, our Father, bless you and give you peace.

3 We are giving thanks unto God, the Father of our Lord Jesus [Christ], always, for you, offering prayer, —

Whenever we pray we never fail to thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for you,

4 Having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have unto all the saints, —

now that we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all his people,

5 Because of the hope that is lying by for you in the heavens, of which ye heard before, in the word of the truth of the glad-message,

because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Of this hope you heard long ago in the true message of the good news which reached you,

6 When it presented itself unto you; even as, in all the world also, it is bearing fruit and growing, even as also among you, from the day when ye heard, and came personally to know the favour of God in truth,

bearing fruit and growing, as it does, through all the world, just as it did among you from the very day that you heard of God’s loving kindness, and understood what that loving kindness really is.

7 Even as ye learned [it] from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who is faithful in our behalf, as a minister of the Christ,

It is just what you learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who, as a minister of the Christ, faithfully represents us,

8 Who also hath made evident unto us your love in spirit.

and who told us of the love with which the Spirit has inspired you.

9 For this cause, we also, from the day when we heard [of you], cease not, in your behalf, praying and asking—that ye may be filled unto the personal knowledge of his will, in all spiritual wisdom and discernment,

And therefore we, from the very day that we heard this, have never ceased praying for you, or asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, which comes through all true spiritual wisdom and insight.

10 So as to walk worthily of the Lord, unto all pleasing, in every good work, bearing fruit, and growing in the personal knowledge of God,

Then you will live lives worthy of the Master, and so please God in every way. Your lives will be fruitful in every kind of good action, and grow into a fuller knowledge of God;

11 With all power, being empowered, according to the grasp of his glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy,

you will be made strong at all points with a strength worthy of the power manifested in his glory – strong to endure with patience, and even with gladness, whatever may happen to you;

12 Giving thanks unto the Father that hath made you sufficient for your share in the inheritance of the saints in the light,

and you will give thanks to the Father who made you fit to share the lot which awaits Christ’s people in the realms of light.

13 Who hath rescued us out of the authority of the darkness, and translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of his love;

For God has rescued us from the tyranny of darkness, and has removed us into the kingdom of his Son, who is the embodiment of his love,

14 In whom, we have our redemption—the remission of our sins, —

and through whom we have found deliverance in the forgiveness of our sins.

15 Who, is an image of the unseen God, Firstborn of all creation, —

For Christ is the incarnation of the invisible God – firstborn and head of all creation;

16 Because, in him, were created all things in the heavens and upon the earth, the things seen and the things unseen, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities, —they all, through him and for him, have been created,

for in him was created all that is in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible – angels and archangels and all the powers of heaven.

17 And, he, is before all, and, they all, in him, hold together;

All has been created through him and for him. He was before all things, and all things unite in him;

18 And, he, is the head of the body, the assembly, Who is the beginning, Firstborn from among the dead, in order that, he, might become, in all things, himself, pre-eminent; —

and he is the head of the church, which is his body. The firstborn from the dead, he is to the church the source of its life, that he, in all things, may stand first.

19 Because, in him, was all the fullness well pleased to dwell,

For it pleased the Father that in him the divine nature in all its fulness should live,

20 And, through him, fully to reconcile all things unto him, making peace through the blood of his cross, —[through him]—whether the things upon the earth or the things in the heavens;

and through him to reconcile all things to himself (making peace by the shedding of Christ’s blood offered on the cross) – whether on earth or in heaven.

21 And, you, who at one time were estranged and enemies in your mind in your wicked works, yet, now, hath he fully reconciled,

And it pleased God that you, once estranged from him and hostile towards him in your thoughts, intent only on wickedness –

22 In his body of flesh, through means of his death, to present you holy and blameless and unaccusable before him, —

but now he has reconciled you to himself by the sacrifice of Christ’s earthly body in death – it has pleased God that you should stand in his presence holy, pure, and blameless,

23 If, at least, ye are abiding still in the faith, founded and firm, and not to be moved away from the hope of the glad-message which ye have heard, which hath been proclaimed in all creation which is under heaven, —of which, I Paul, have become minister.

if only you remain true to your faith, firm and immovable, never abandoning the hope held out in the good news to which you listened, which has been proclaimed among all created things under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made an assistant.

24 Now, am I rejoicing in the sufferings on your behalf, and am filling up the things that lack of the tribulations of the Christ, in my flesh, in behalf of his body, which is the assembly,

Now at last I can rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and in my own person I supplement the afflictions endured by the Christ, for the sake of his body, the church;

25 Of which, I, have become minister—according to the administration of God which hath been given unto me to you-ward, to fill up the word of God,

of which I myself became a minister in virtue of the office with which God entrusted me for your benefit, to declare the message of God in all its fulness –

26 The sacred secret which had been hidden away from the ages and from the generations, but, now, hath been made manifest unto his saints— (aiōn g165)

that truth which has been hidden from former ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to God’s people, (aiōn g165)

27 Unto whom God hath been pleased to make known what is the glorious wealth of this sacred secret among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory, —

to whom it was his pleasure to make known the surpassing glory of that hidden truth when proclaimed among the Gentiles – ‘Christ among you! Your hope of glory!’

28 Whom we are declaring, admonishing every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, in order that we may present every man complete in Christ;

This is the Christ whom we proclaim, warning everyone, and instructing everyone, with all the wisdom that we possess, in the hope of bringing everyone into God’s presence perfected by union with Christ.

29 Unto which I am even toiling, contending according to his energy which is energising itself in me with power.

It is for that I toil, struggling with all the energy which he inspires and which works powerfully within me.